This series takes you through an entire year of our nature walks and is part of our non-profit project #Earthschooling365 at www.Earthschooling.org. The photos and posts in this series are all copyrighted. Please do not share or re-print them. Instead, share the link to this blog with your friends.
Along the way I will be sharing our favorite photo of the day, an inner work meditation for the day, photography assignment/tip for the day, nature walk theme for the day and a short verse for circle time (children) or meditation (teens/adults). We invite you to “walk along with us” this year, take some time to use the inner work meditation, be inspired by the nature walk theme of the day and perhaps even start a photo series of your own. To join the community on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram please tag your photos #Earthschooling365. To receive these inspirations in your e-mail inbox daily please subscribe to our blog alerts HERE. Don’t worry about missing days – you can join us as many days as you want this year!
Every day we will post one day. We will leave up 2 weeks of nature walks at a time. At the end of two weeks each nature walk will be transferred to the Lifetime Member’s Only Blog and will be accessible only to Lifetime Earthschooling Members. If you want to own the entire series without enrolling a an Earthschooling Lifetime Package Member you can purchase the entire series for only $35.00 (for the entire year!)
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You can start your journey any day. You do not have to follow our schedule. However, we will leave up the first week of the project all year so you can follow the steps to get started.
#Earthschooling365: Day Ten
Inner Work Meditation (Heart): In today’s society knowledge is so easy to come by. I remember when I was young I used to have questions and I would ask my teachers or friends about them. Or I would write them down and look them up in a book next time I went to the library. Today, however, when I have a question all I need to do is “Google it”. But one thing I have learned from my nature walks is that there is absolutely nothing that compares to the feeling that you have discovered or learned something yourself – even if you know, deep down, that thousands of people have already discovered it and probably written books about it. That moment when you make the discovery yourself is uplifting. Take ten minutes today to reflect on how much time you spend “finding out the answers” and how much time you spend “making discoveries”. Consider what you can do to balance these experiences in your life. What can you change in your life to enable to to make more discoveries?
Nature Walk Idea (Head): I’ve had many amazing experiences in my life. One of them was working as a wildlife anthropologist. During this time I had to read many books about wildlife biology and learn specific things about the habits of animals. To be able to work directly with some animals I even had to read specific books about animal language. Perhaps you have read some books about animals too? You, like I, may have learned about many animals, though reading or even a documentary or nature channel. But there is nothing that can compare to observing it yourself. After your walk today write down or talk about something you have learned that is not from a book or a lesson. It can be something simple like “deer stare at me when they see (me) people” or it can be complex like “deer have a pattern on their fur that is very near the same as the trees around them. This makes it hard for them to be seen – especially in the hours before sunset”. Do this as often as you can/want to during your nature walk journey and reflect on the magic that is self-discovery. Isn’t it amazing how much better you retain the memory of something when you have discovered it yourself rather than read it in a book? If you would like to explore how you can learn more about nature through observation consider our Outdoor Skills Lesson Block.
Photography Notes (Hands): Your assignment today is to take a photo that best takes advantage of the lighting conditions you have today. The photo I took today is of a deer in the hours before sunset. People often call the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset the “ideal lighting” hours. And as you can see from the photo they are quite ideal. There are no harsh shadows, the lighting is even and balanced and there is just enough of an angle to give some beautiful definition to the subject. But you won’t always find this kind of lighting. What kind of lighting do you have during your walk today? If it is shady then it is a great time to take photos of subjects that are lighter in color. If there are harsh shadows you could perhaps play with those shadows and take photos of the patterns they are making.
Verse: Stranger in the Woods*
Copyright Kristie Burns
Stranger in the woods
How do I know you?
What signs should I look for
That give me a clue?
Cinnamon fur, tawny hide
lanky leg and knobby knee
Ebony nose and perky ears
Do your charcoal eyes know me?
*These poems have been created for many purposes – from early childhood circle time verses to inspirational or expressive. They vary from day to day so you may find the way you use them or enjoy them also varies. If you would like to set these poems to music consider our tutorial: Creating Your Ow Waldorf Verses or Finding Your Inner Voice.
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